Su Bai walked into the school. With the alley under his feet and the night breeze blowing softly, it was so relaxing and cozy that all his fatigue seemed to have disappeared at this moment.
Liu He would be unable to sleep tonight; however, Su Bai wouldn’t have any nightmare no matter how tragic Chen Chu’s death was, despite of some trivial feeling he had when he saw the scene.
However, Su Bai had doubts about one thing: with Aroma gone, this Murder Club was coming to its end, and he was not sure if it was good or bad. If someday he should lose control, the only choice would be to go aboard for psychotherapy, otherwise he might become a demon killing innocent people for fun, and that was not something Su Bai wanted.
Though the people he killed were not decent, they didn’t deserve death according to law. But it was a kind of consolation to Su Bai, just as what he had said to that white-collar lady in that washroom before he killed her:
"Though I hate nonsense, I have to say this due to the Club’s rule: Your sins can escape from common punishment, but not from ours."
Thus a sacred glory of justice was added forcibly to his psychotic mind.
Su Bai kept walking while thinking. But suddenly, he stopped, frozen in his stance.
Why it was so quiet around here?
Such quietness should be normal in an ordinary midnight in the school, but tonight, hundreds or even thousands of people were looking for human flesh here, and there was no chance that the search could have ended by now. So, why so quiet?
Su Bai clenched his fist and started to look around. That odd feeling was becoming stronger and stronger.
But he noticed nothing special after a long while.
Su Bai had decided to continue walking towards his dorm when someone walked out of the garden ally in front of him.
"Who’s there!"
"Su Bai, it’s me."
It was Liu He, holding a cup of milk tea. He said,"I threw up in the garden, and went to buy a cup of milk tea to clean my mouth."
Su Bai nodded, and they walked back to the dorm together with Liu He in the front and Su Bai following.
When Su Bai saw the gatekeeper still sitting in front of the gate, he finally felt a little relieved. Maybe he was too sensitive and nervous.
They walked into the old dormitory and arrived at the third floor. Liu He opened the door with his keys, and Su Bai walked in behind him.
"Wanna take a shower?" Liu He asked him.
"Nope, not for now." Su Bai shook his head. He just wanted to have a sound sleep on his own bed.
"Then I’ll go take a shower in the washroom." Liu He took out his basin, put in his towel, shampoo and body wash, took off his clothes and went out in his underpants.
Su Bai took off his coat and climbed up to his bed. He picked up his laptop, only to find the Windows10 system was rebooting over and over after he hit the start button. There must be something wrong with the system; luckily Su Bai had a backup for the important data, so there was no need to worry whether the data in his laptop would be damaged after the system breakdown.
But he was not in a mood for reinstallation. Putting his laptop on the bedside, Su Bai closed his eye and tried to have some sleep.
Just then, on Liu He’s bed, his cellphone’s screen lit up.
Nowadays, most smart phones were equipped with radio apps. Now the app started by itself, and a voice came out:
"Hello, dear audience. It’s Dreadful Radio’s showtime again. Today, we will continue our ghost story. Please settle down and listen."
Su Bai had not fallen asleep by that time, and he seemed to have heard some strange noise. But when he tried to open his eyes and get up, he found he couldn’t move at all.
A Ghost Press[1]!
Great time for a ghost press!
Su Bai started struggle with all his strength. A lot of people had experienced Ghost Presses, during which their minds would have no control of their body, but after a while they would be alright.
"Today’s story happens in a college. Do you remember the case xxx back then? The famous case of mutilation? That case had shocked the whole nation, but even though it happened a few decades ago, it has not been solved yet.
"After decades, everything has changed: evidence, testimony, people involved… It is hard to continue tracking. The point is that decades ago, the police’s investigative means and techniques were too poor. If today’s technology and investigative ability were taken back to those years, more evidence should be found;
"Of course, I said ‘should be found’, not ‘must be found’.
"Anyway, in 2016, in this college that is well-known throughout the nation, there happened a case that is exactly the same with that case. It almost duplicated all the details in that case of mutilation back then: a student’s body was cooked, sliced into pieces, and spread around the school.
"So, if the last case was not solved and the murderer was never found due to limitation of technical conditions 20 years ago, then, what will happen now?
"On this day, 2016, a same case. Will the police find the murderer?
"Hush…
"Quiet…
"Really quiet…
"Look, that room in that dormitory! Its door opened. That dead male student…
"He…
"He…
"He’s back…"
"Creaking~"
With a clear creak, the door was pushed open.
A male student walked in.
He walked to his bed, sat down, and then came to his desk and turned on the lamp. He checked his desk and then pulled out the drawer. When he found that his drawer was forced open, he frowned a little, and a trace of anger appeared on his face.
Just then, another person walked into the room all wet with a basin in his hands. It was Liu He who had just come back after his shower from the washroom.
"Hey, Chen Chu, it’s nice to have you back." Liu He had always been good and hospitable to everyone around him.
"Yeah, my girlfriend needs to return to her dorm to copy her classmate’s homework. So I’ll stay here for tonight," Chen Chu answered.
"Well, welcome back," Liu He said with a smile, "You should come back from time to time, otherwise we would be so lonely."
"Isn’t there another guy in the room?" Chen Chu cast a glance at the fourth bed covered with curtains.
Liu He pointed the the fourth bed and made a gesture of "you know him", which meant that Su Bai was kind of indifferent, so the room seemed really lacking in liveness.
Then something came to Chen Chu’s mind. He asked Liu He: "What happened to my lock of my drawer?"
"That…" Liu He seemed embarrassed, and then he shook his head, "All I can say is that I didn’t do it."
This answer was actually as good as telling Chen Chu who did it. Because there were only two people in the room.
"Su Bai, Su Bai! What’s wrong with my lock?"
Chen Chu shouted from beneath.
But there was no answer from Su Bai’s bed.
"You…" Chen Chu was about to say something else, but he was grabbed by Liu He.
"It’s so late now; he might be asleep. Why not deal with it tomorrow?"
Chen Chu nodded. After all, they were classmates living in the same room, and Chen Chu was just too angry. He also remembered extravagance when Su Bai came to school, and he knew it was not worth offending such a classmate with such a powerful family background.
"Lend me your shampoo. I’ll go take a shower, too."
"Okay, here you are."
"Well, thanks."
"Creaking…"
Chen Chu walked out of the dorm and closed the door by the way.
At this point, Su Bai finally got rid of that Ghost Press, and he immediately bounced up from the bed. Under the Ghost Press, he could clearly sense everything going on outside; he heard who had come, and his conversation with Liu He.
Su Bai jumped down from the bed at once, with his dagger held tight in his hand.
Liu He was sitting on his bed enjoying the chill. He was surprised when he saw Su Bai suddenly come down.
Su Bai approached Liu He and stared at him.
"What?" Liu He was confused.
"Chen Chu’s back?" Su Bai was reminding Liu He.
Chen Chu was dead, cut open and nailed onto a chair. Liu He and himself saw that with their personal eyes on the crime scene.
"Yes, he’s back." Liu He said with doubt.
Su Bai said nothing more while trying to keep himself from stabbing at Liu He. He knew something was wrong. Then he looked at Liu He’s cellphone on his bed and went to pick it up.
On the screen, a radio app was on, and the current channel was:
"Dreadful Radio!"
Damn it! Certainly, it is doing something!
Su Bai gnashed his teeth, and his murderous look that had been hidden well was quite obvious by this time. He took a deep breath, pushed out the door and walked towards the washroom. The dagger was grasped tight in his hand.
"Clatter…"
"Clatter…"
The sound of water kept coming out from the washroom. It was like someone was holding water in the basin and then pouring it onto someone’s body.
When Su Bai arrived at the washroom door, his hand holding the knife started to shake slightly. He saw:
Chen Chu was taking a shower…
…while bleeding…
…even…
…his guts…
…were all over the place.
————————————
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Ghost Press: Sometimes, when people are sleeping, their minds suddenly wake up but their body can’t respond; they can hear but can not open their eyes or move a muscle. This is called a Ghost Press in Chinese. But scientists say it is just a special symptom of sleep paralysis.